Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Q&A with Author Jen Malone, At Your Service

Today I'm super excited to introduce middle grade/young adult author Jen Malone to all of you. She's celebrating the release of her first novel ever and the internet is filled with congratulations. Jen is proof that when you are a cheerleader for so many other people, the support is overwhelming when your big day comes.I was very fortunate to get to read an ARC of At Your Service through Edelweiss, which Jen herself told me about. I can't say enough that this book is awesome!!!

It's been an amazing year for Jen. Not only is her first book coming out, but she's sold four more and has a full lineup of events planned this fall. She's taking a little time out of her crazy schedule to tell us a little about her book and her own writing process today.

Q: At Your Service
takes readers across New York City, with multiple sights described in detail.
How did you tackle the research for the book?

A: First of all,
thanks so much for having me- I love how supportive of one another MIX authors
are! The way my kids look at me when I tell them I didn’t have the internet as
a kid is exactly how I look at authors who wrote before Google Maps? I can’t
even. So there was a lot of that and a lot of drawing on my own trips to the
city for inspiration. Luckily, Boston isn’t so far from NYC. Those really
helped me to write about the city from a tourists’ perspective, but when it
came to the hometown perspective of my main character, Chloe, I had to rely on
an author friend who lives in Brooklyn and my editor to correct all the things
I got wrong about NYC life in my first draft. For instance, I had a scene where
my main character got her foot stuck in the gap between subway and platform and
both of them sent me cell phone pictures from their commutes to show that no
way, no how could that happen. Not even to a child-sized foot. I also give my
husband credit for taking hours and hours out of a business trip to visit EVERY
PENNY MACHINE IN THE FIVE BURROUGHS and take many-angled pictures for me. I’ll
be keeping him around!

Q: A lot of my readers are trying to get published. How long
did it take you to land an agent and book deal from the time you started
writing?

A: I got very, very lucky in the scheme of things. I started
writing in February of 2012 and signed with my agent in October of 2012. My
book deal was inked in March 2013. In publishing terms, that’s basically
“overnight” and I don’t take that for granted at all!

Q: You’re also a teacher who regularly teaches classes on
book promotion and getting published. What advice do you have for aspiring
authors who are having a hard time landing a book deal? What lessons did you
learn along the way?

A: I’m just getting into teaching classes on publishing, but
my prior career was working as the New England head of publicity and promotion
for 20th Century Fox and I’ve been teaching a class on the business
side of the film industry at Boston University for the past fifteen years.
There are a ton of parallels between the two industries! In terms of advice,
when I was out on sub and getting discouraged at passes from editors that seemed
so close, but weren’t panning out, a friend instructed me to go to a bookstore
and buy a book. As you can imagine, this was not a hardship! When I got back
and called her, she said, “Great choice! Now, what was wrong with the hundred
of other books you passed over?” Of course, the answer was nothing at all. But
on that day, at that store, I wanted the one I wanted. A lot of publishing is
like that—just being in the right place at the right time. It’s a bit
discouraging to realize there is only so far talent and hard work can get you;
however, I really believe if you keep putting yourself in the right place,
eventually the right time will catch up with you! *Here is my caveat. This
advice applies to writers who have talented critique partners (or a freelance
editor or an agent) giving you an unbiased thumbs-up on the strength of your
writing. If you don’t have one of those, forget that other advice and find one fast!!!

Q: You’ve had a big year—selling two more books to Simon
& Schuster and two young adult books to HarperTeen. How do you switch back
and forth from writing for teens and tweens? Do you have a routine that
cleanses the palate?

A: It’s been a really great year- no complaints here!!
Because I write “upper middle grade” with main characters who are around age
thirteen and “lower YA” which is geared to readers ages twelve and up, I
haven’t found the switching back and forth to be so difficult (knock wood!). I
haven’t yet tried to write both categories at once- so far I’ve been finishing
one book before moving on to the next (though that will likely change with
upcoming deadlines.) To date, I’ve cleansed my palate of middle grade by
reading 10-20 YA books in a row and then diving into my YA, and vice versa when
it comes time to write MG.

Q: We discuss writers who are “outliners” vs. “pantsers.” Do
you carefully outline before starting a new book or do you just start writing
and let it flow?

A: I don’t usually outline, but I do always write a three
paragraph short blurb that reads like the back jacket cover. To write one you
need to have a compelling character, a conflict, and stakes. If I can get them
all into the blurb, I know I can get them into the book and referring to it
keeps me focused as I write, because I know what I want to end up with. But my
new series with S&S is co-written with a good friend (and fellow MIX
author) Gail Nall and we could never have written it together without a very
detailed outline to work from. Before starting we brainstormed out a
chapter-by-chapter outline so I could write one chapter while she wrote the next
one. After seeing how smoothly that worked and how much more polished our first
draft was as a result, I might just be a convert!

Q: What are you working on now?

A: Welllllllll. My summer with the kids home has not been
productive for writing (I find I need chunks of uninterrupted time to get in
the zone), so I let go of that and spent my time doing promotional things for
At Your Service and prepping workshops for this fall (I’m serving as the Author
In Residence at my local middle school), trying to get as much done ahead of
time as possible. That will clear my schedule to spend all of the fall writing!
Gail and I will write book 2 of our RSVP series and do copyedits on the first
one. I’ll also need to revise my first YA and begin brainstorming a Book 2. And
I have a trip in September where I’ll do six school and library visits and two
book festivals in ten days. It’s going
to be a CRAZY fall and I might be huddled in a ball come January! But it’s so
exciting and a total dream come true, so I’m trying to make sure I savor every
moment.

About Jen Malone

Here are a few random facts about Jen:

I once spent a year traveling the world solo from Nepal to Romania to Fiji, where I learned 99.9% of humanity is pretty freaking awesome yet somehow doesn't share my love of ice cubes in a drink.

I met my husband on the highway. As in, he was driving in the next lane and I made a face at him. In fact our meet-cute was SO cute we had a whole story written about it in Ladies Home Journal.

My twin boys placed second in the Most Identical contest at the International Festival of Twins (their little sister placed first in the most adorable category at the All The People In Our Living Room Festival.)

I once accompanied a pajama-clad Oprah Winfrey (and her puppies) through the laundry room of the Four Seasons. I have also been in a hotel room alone with a shirtless Mark Wahlberg. In both those instances, it was not what you think.

Oh, and I went into early labor while on Stevie Nicks' tour bus. That is pretty much what you think.

38 comments:

Congratulations on your first book, Jen! And four more to come. Whoa.Yeah, only in London do you have to 'mind the gap' when it comes to the subway.And former head of promotion for 20th Century Fox - very impressive.Good luck and prepare - your life will never be the same.

Awesome interview, Stephanie!! I loved reading more about Jen and her publishing process. Her "trip" to the bookstore was a good reiteration that there are so many great writers out there, but sometimes publishers are looking for something specific. Thanks for sharing this interview! Congrats to Jen!!

I had that same epiphany years ago. I was looking for a book to take on vacation and browsing through the book store...only looking to buy one book. I finally texted a friend, who is an avid reader, for a suggestion. Then I bought the book. So, never underestimate the power of word of mouth too!

Amazing achievements Jen. We had a guy get his foot caught in the gap at the train station. It went viral when all the passengers pushed the train to the side to release his foot...so not just London Alex. Australia too.

As I was reading your post today, a teacher friend of mine was peeking over my shoulder. "I LOVE that book cover!" she said about AT YOUR SERVICE. Thus, I had the opportunity to plug the book without having yet read it. I love social networking! :)

That's such a cute cover. One of my students is a 10-year-old girl. I think she'll love your series (and I see that Stephanie's books have the same cover design and fun storylines). Hope to find your books at my library soon! One other thing I love about this interview is how Jen's friend got her to think about all those books she'd passed up at the bookstore that day. Sometimes it really just boils down to time and mood (after getting the thumbs-up from an unbiased editor, of course). Congratulations to Jen on the book release and the ones to come!

Ahhh, I love ones set in NYC, as someone who has never flown (I don't even have a passport), I love reading different settings. Wow, that was quick, how great is that? :) I'll be looking out for the YA with HarperTeen! I once accompanied a pajama-clad Oprah Winfrey (and her puppies) through the laundry room of the Four Seasons. I have also been in a hotel room alone with a shirtless Mark Wahlberg. In both those instances, it was not what you think. haha!

Thanks for all the lovely comments and support everyone! I love the teacher reading over the shoulder. And while I can take zero credit for the cover myself, I am also totally in love with it! And Jeanette, yes, twins are as much fun as they appear... most of the time! Mind the gap!!!!